Saturday, August 28, 2010

3 monkeys

doris wanted to go see kumar so did sl who persuaded me to go. ky came along too.

the stage at the cafe is a far smaller scale than that of the one at "boom boom room" where i last watched him performed. still funny but i thought more 'racist' in content. he poked fun at racial stereotypes and i felt he could get away with so much ribbing of indians because he's one. somehow, you're granted more creative license when it comes to your own race and less likely to offend.

i didn't like the 'old' segment though. the lip-synching opening acts were neither here nor there except maybe as a tribute to the show's origin as a cabaret-styled show. the audience segment were great fun... especially for those watching. :P

the pacing towards the end was also slightly off. he sounded as if he's ending the gig but kept going on. not that i minded the extra performance but it was rather repetitive for him to urge the audience to go home, have fun, get drunk and have sex more than once.

i guess we will now associate the word "fluctuation" with something less polite... i'm sure ky will. :) haha...

Thursday, August 26, 2010

botox

thought this was funny...

i want my kids to know when i'm pissed, when i'm happy and when i'm confounded.
~ julia roberts

credit: 8 days
photo credit: www.inquisitr.com

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

irrawaddy

didn't know there's a river by the name of irrawaddy in myanmar, it flows from north to south and is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway.

there's also an irrawaddy here in singapore too... no fishes though but you can find a new phoenix there. ;)

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

self portrait

friends know that i tend to be behind the lens rather than in front of it. but i had no choice this time round 'cos an organisation had requested for a passport-sized photo which cannot be produced from my relic of a film negative.

and i had to get a stye in my right eye when i woke up on sunday! had to wait for it to clear up today before i can go to the photo studio and preen. i opted for a 'side' picture taking a few shots and choosing one that's as pleasantly natural as i can be with some directions from the camera(wo)man. some digital touchups were done too but i seriously can't tell. :P

so how do i look?

can become housing agent or insurance agent? lol...

Monday, August 23, 2010

welcome world

chua mui hoong wrote about the transformation of sentosa and the marina bayfront area into places that didn't feel like home anymore but to impress foreigners. this globalisation is inevitable as singapore strive to be a metropolis for the world.

but how can we become one without losing what is local and familiar? and without the world intruding into our home?

i realised that was exactly how i felt when cityvibe came up at clementi. as much as i like having the convenience of subway, mos burger and sakae sushi at my doorstep, i also have an uncomfortable sense that "urbanisation" has crept into the estate that i grew up in. somehow, this mall with its colourful led facade built on the previous site of clementi and commonwealth cinema gave a different buzz to the previously sleepy town central.

when the world intrudes into your private corners, you experience a sense of dislocation. your mind spins into confusion when childhood haunts are replaced by gleaming spaces...

 and this will continue unabated with clementi mall slated to open next.

credit: the straits times

Sunday, August 22, 2010

love language

according to gary chapman, people have 5 different ways of wanting and expressing love:
  1. words of affirmation
  2. spending quality time
  3. giving presents
  4. acts of service
  5. physical touch
everyone usually has 1 or 2 dominant love languages with little regard for the remaining.

so what's yours?

plastic

this post is for future generations...

once upon a time, photographs are taken with film (plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts). after 'exposing' the film, you need to bring them to the photo labs to develop into photographs that you can hold in your hands. many a time, you won't know how your pictures will turn out 'cos you can't preview them on your camera. there's always a feeling of great anticipation before you collect the pictures at the lab.

yesterday, i found out that this piece of plastic is already part of history. i half-suspected that the usual lab that i frequent may not be able to re-print my passport-sized photographs and i was right. but i wasn't prepared when the studio where i had taken this photo told me they don't have the machine to re-print from the negative! :(

thanks to the organisation who had requested for a "hardcopy" passport-sized photograph (and numerous other docs, i thought we're already in the paperless era?), i'm rudely brought up to date on photographic technology.

so if any of you are still hoarding those negatives containing your precious memories, i suggest you convert them digitally before even such conversion technologies become obsolete! :P

Saturday, August 21, 2010

inception

after hearing many good things about this movie, i finally get to watch it with sl, doris and thomas.

just as the movie, matrix questions what is reality... inception questions whether one is dreaming or awake? which relates to "what is the reality?"

this reminds me of chinese philosopher, 庄子 who dreamt that he was a butterfly fluttering happily without a care in the world before he woke up suddenly. was he 庄子 who dreamt that he was a butterfly? or a butterfly dreaming that it was 庄子?

leonardo in the movie had a totem, a brass top to determine if he's dreaming or not. the brass top spins forever when he's in a dream. the final scene showed the brass top spinning... wobbles for a split-second but continued to spin. is he dreaming?

are you dreaming?

photo credit: www.wallpaperbase.com

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

silver

i like silver better than gold but when it comes to medals, nothing beats gold.

rainer ng did singapore proud by winning the 1st silver medal for the men's 50m backstroke, just a mere 0.09s behind christian homer from trinidad and tobago.

coupled with the 2 bronzes won by daryl tan and nurul shafinas both from taekwondo, the total medal tally stands at 3 tonight.

go, singapore, go!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

reset

oh man... my ipod nano had to hang on me just before my run!

and i couldn't reset it! argh... so i couldn't track and time my run tonight. :(

boo...

Monday, August 16, 2010

gold medalist

i had just switched over to one of the yog channels yesterday and saw the chinese athelete doing the clean and jerk for the weightlifting competition. it was for the 48kg category and i thought that the chinese weightlifter looks very young and stocky.

then the commentator announced that she's the gold medalist for the women's 48kg category event.

oops! i really couldn't tell that she's a girl... :P

Sunday, August 15, 2010

spending

does spending money makes one happy? yes, to a certain extent.

according to findings, spending money for an experience like going to a concert, lessons, classes or travelling produces longer-lasting satisfaction than just splurging on stuff. the reason being such experiences allow for reminiscences giving longer-lasting happiness.

also, scholars found that anticipation increases happiness. hence planning for a purchase will bring more pleasure than making a last minute buy.

so now we can all buy our way to bliss. :P

credit: the new york times

Saturday, August 14, 2010

view from 4628

you guys caught the inaugural yog opening ceremony on tv?

well, i didn't 'cos i was making my way to janet's room at marina bay sands for a look-see and also get free entry into the skypark. :) the entire property is huge including a long promenade overlooking the bay.

didn't spend too much time at the top since i was a bit late and we wanted to view the fireworks in the room instead. very good views from the skypark. crowded so i couldn't get a good spot to park my lumix for a decent night shot. :(

the room is big, the bathroom too but doesn't have a bath tub which i think it's disappointing considering how much it'll cost at its usual rates. janet encountered the now well-known "frustration" of trying to check into the hotel at the promised check-in time of 3:00 pm.

doris and thomas were there too. they had to take a cab from suntec city to mbs as the helix bridge was closed due to the yog opening ceremony at the float @ marina. since doris had warned me about the bridge closure, i took a train to marina bay and walked over instead.

after the ceremony had ended, we had wanted to go for drinks somewhere but it was too troublesome for janet and jason since there was a long queue to retrieve their car from the valet. so we settled for coffee at the makeshift foodcourt outside the swatch boutique.

dyson

saw the dyson fan online previously and felt it's super cool (pun unintended).

thought that it's still in the r & d stage but didn't expect it to be in the papers and on sale at robinsons!

wow... safe and easy to clean. wonder how much will it cost...

check out this video to see what the engineers at dyson did just for fun. :)

Friday, August 13, 2010

esplanade xchange

do you know that raffles city now connects to marina square and suntec city underground? and i don't mean citylink mall... it's via the new esplanade xchange. so now there's another way to get to suntec city during those mad times when there's an IT show going on.

great! :)

higher prices

looks like the freaky weather worldwide these past few months is going to impact us directly after all. :(

wheat: increase of 50% since june
sugar: increase of 26% in 3 months
coffee: increase of 20% also in 3 months
soya: increase of 8% within the same period

while suppliers are currently reluctant to increase prices, if the higher prices persist for another 3 to 6 months, the effect will eventually feed into retail prices. not a very welcome development considering the state of the world's economy.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

by post

today i had to go to the post office to weigh the 2 envelopes containing my application forms and documents for the 2 openings doris told me about.

it costs 50 cents for a manilla envelope with about 9 sheets of a4 size paper and i've not done this for a very long time even though i'm actively looking for a job. which company still requires you to submit hardcopy applications by post in this time and age?

so very "old-school" lah... really brings me back to the times when i was looking for my first job. and i don't think it's environmentally-friendly, right? :P

song for xcb

as usual, you can't expect mrbrown not to parody this year's national day song. :)

but i thought last year's "lekuasimi" was funnier. ;)

Monday, August 09, 2010

happy 45th birthday

happy birthday to singapore!

this year's song is written and sung by corrinne may.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

sugar-free

while sugar-free food products usually mean that artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame and sucralose were used previously, increasingly sugar substitute called sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, maltitol and xylitol are added nowadays.

i know about sorbitol and xylitol because that is the sugar substitute commonly used in chewing gum. so is there a difference between the 2 groups of sugar substitutes?

definitely.

artificial sweeteners contains no carbohydrates and thus has no effect on blood sugar level. because it is 100 to 150 sweeter than sugar, the amount required contains neglible caloric content hence it was recommended for weigh-watchers as well as diabetics.

sugar alcohols on the other hand are hydrogenated carbohydrates meaning they will raise your blood sugar levels and contains calorie values ranging from 1.5 to 3.0 per gramme versus 4 calories per gramme of sugar. however, they do not contribute to tooth decay as they are not metabolised by oral bacteria.

interesting isn't it?

basically, what is sugar-free may still make your blood sugar level rise and if such calories are not expended through daily activities and/or exercise, eventually makes you fat! :P

credit: the new york times, wikipedia
photo credit: canonsnapper, flickr

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

tough

argh... almost got a headache trying to solve the 30 reasoning questions assessment here.

it's super "cheem" lah... i'm happy if i got half of them right. :(

Sunday, August 01, 2010

not so long run

but it felt too long... and i couldn't maintain my pace consistently.

my 1st run in many months... haven't been running regularly since the standchart marathon last december so i've been terribly out of practice. besides my obvious laziness, i also blame it on my nike+ ipod sensor. i discovered its battery was flat a few months ago. as luck would have it, it was out of stock in many places.

without a way to track my distance covered, i've put off training for this year's half marathon until today. no more excuses since i got the sensor last month from jurong point, and i don't feel like killing myself in front of tens of thousands people at the marathon singapore in december.

today's run was 3.78km in 28 minutes 27seconds. average pace of  7'29"/km. lousy pace for such a short distance. need to ramp up the distance and speed in 4 months.

wish me strength! :)